India women to get little preparation as WT20 tune-up series in West Indies gets called off

In a bid to prepare for the Women’s World T20, the BCCI had earlier proposed playing three T20Is in West Indies in last week of October.

India women’s cricket team will have very little match practice ahead of the World T20 in West Indies as the scheduled bilateral T20I series against the host nation got cancelled.

Although the series wasn’t officially confirmed by the cricket boards of either countries, Cricket West Indies has now confirmed cancellation due to financial constraints.

“CWI & BCCI were hoping to schedule three International T20s in St. Kitts ahead of the Women’s World T20, as part of our respective preparation plans. As the series was not part of any bilateral future tours programme, CWI has been discussing the financials with the BCCI and unfortunately the matches will now not be taking place,” CWI were quoted as saying by Cricbuzz. “Both teams will instead be training in Antigua before the ICC preparation period begins.”

In a bid to gear up for the Women’s World T20, the BCCI had earlier proposed playing three T20Is in West Indies in last week of October. Unlike the 50-over World Cup, the Indian women’s team don’t boast an impressive record at the World T20 – failing to make it past the group stages in each of the last three editions.

In the shortest format, India had a disappointing outing in 2018. At home, Harmanpreet Kaur and company have failed to make it to the final of the tri-series featuring title contenders Australia and England, followed by a heart-wrenching loss to Bangladesh in the Asia Cup.

The Women in Blue are slotted with Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and arch-rivals Pakistan in Group B of the ICC Women’s World T20. India’s two official WWT20 warm-ups games are against defending champions Windies on November 4 and England on November 7.